Back in the day, coat hangers weren't just used for popping open a car door when you locked your keys inside. They also served as makeshift antennae to improve TV and radio reception. That DIY RF engineering inspired John Jerome Spina to patent an integrated coat hanger/radio. His 1976 patent expired in 1995, so get Kickstarting! From the patent:
Radios have been known at least since Marconi. Many improvements have been devised over the years. Radio receivers have been combined with various known objects for improved function, for dual function, and for aesthetic advantages.Francis in U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,995 discloses an antenna in a fishing rod. Of the many other combination radios found in a search of the prior art, none employed the other physical object electrically, but only mechanically as a mounting.It is obviously an economic advantage to utilize available properties.
(via Weird Universe)
